Monday, October 15, 2012

hapter 2 ~ Friday Night“Oh my gosh, we’re going to have so much fun this week!” Joy said excitedly as they popped popcorn that night.Katherine stood stirring the melting butter, “Totally!” she grinned.Emilie sat in front of the movie cabinet trying to figure out a movie for them to watch. “What should we watch, girls?”“Um,” Joy stared into space. “What about Tangled?”“Nah, why not Flicka?”Katherine looked at the girls. “Or Narnia?”Emilie grinned evilly at Joy and Katherine, “Or should I treat you to Doctor Who?”They looked at Emilie and laughed.“Shhh! They might hear you!” Emilie hissed.Katherine and Joy clamped their hands over their mouths.“Which one will you torture ius with?”Emilie thought for a bit before she answered, “Hmm let me think, why not The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances?”Katherine giggled a bit. “That’s the one with the gas masks, right?”Emilie nodded and leaned against the couch waiting, “Think of it as a ghost story.” She smiled. Joy looked at Katherine as she took the butter off the stove and set it on the counter. “That would be fine” Katherine responded, “Right Joy?”“Yeah, it would be like a ghost story from what I’ve heard.” “More like a Science Fiction ghost story” Emilie giggled, which set them all off. “Katherine,” Emilie laughed, “is the popcorn ready?”Katherine giggled, “Yeah it’s ready.” She poured the butter on the popcorn and Joy sprinkled salt all over it. Emilie grabbed the DVD case and headed upstairs followed by Joy and Katherine. Joy plopped onto a pink beanbag chair with butterflies all over it; Katherine seated herself on the floor with a pink swirly long pillow; after putting the disc in Emilie relaxed on her bed amongst the blankets and pillows. The main menu music blared out of the TV making the three of them jump. Emilie leaped off the bed to grab the remote and turned it down, “Sorry guys.”Katherine giggled. “I’m scared already;”Emilie kicked her playfully in the head with her foot.“Would you start!?” Joy playfully lunged for the remote.“Hey!” Emilie cried out twisting away from Joy to press play. “Okay! Now watch” she flipped herself around so she was on her stomach facing the TV. “This is where it gets scary!” Emilie teased, “The last time I watched this was when it was light out; I've never watched it at night so don’t be alarmed if you find me in one of your laps.” She giggled and then looked at Katherine and Joy who had their eyes glued to the screen.“Can I have the popcorn?” Neither of them heard her so she lunged for bowl which resulted in a spill.“Oops!” Katherine mesmerically ate the popcorn off the floor. “They sure are enjoying it, right, Emilie?” Emilie talked to herself, “Yeah they are really enjoying as you are. Yeah I’m so enjoying it, Emilie! I knew you were enjoying it, Self.” “SHH!!! Tell yourself to be quiet, Emilie!” Joy said. Emilie giggled “Sorry girls.”~*~“So, girls, did you like it?” Emilie looked at Joy and Katherine who sat below her on the floor. “Oh Yes! It was great!! I loved it!” Katherine burst out.Joy said, “You were so right! it was fantastic!”Emilie traced a butterfly on her coverlet with her finger, “I knew you would!” She grinned. “You obviously weren’t too involved with it, you helped finish off the popcorn” they giggled. “Mummy? Are you my mummy?”Emilie froze, “Girls what was that?” Joy grabbed their hands tightly “Mummy? Mummy? I’m coming to find you.”Katherine gasped out, “It’s coming closer!” they jumped up and ran to the corner screaming. They huddled there until a noise made them look, “Oh girls! That was priceless!” Aden leaned into Angelo, both laughing breathlessly. “That was epic!!”Emilie marched over to them and stared at them; her face was beet red, but they didn’t notice, “Oh really? Was that really epic? Answer me!” Aden laughed at her and said teasingly “Yes, as a matter a fact, that was epic!” Emilie slapped him and he jumped back. “Ouch!” I’m not letting my fourteen year-old sister get to me! he thought angrily. “Now that was uncalled for! Take it back, Emilie Clare Cherveaux!”“You leave him alone, Emilie!” Angelo cried out.Katherine and Joy stood at a distance. They had seen this happen before, but never this bad. They looked at each other, should they step in? Katherine didn’t bother to answer that question, she hurried over and stepped between the twins and Emilie; Joy, only hesitating a second longer then Katherine, was right there next to her. “Alright, alright!”They weren’t listening. Joy shook her head. “ALRIGHT!!” She shouted.That had been the wrong thing to do because now Emilie, Aden and Angelo were glaring at her. Okay, maybe we should just let them duke it out? That probably wouldn’t be best Joy decided. After signaling to Katherine, she slipped out and headed down the hall to Mr. and Mrs. Cherveaux’s room and knocked on their door.“Um Mrs. Cherveaux?”Mrs. Cherveaux sat up and looked at Joy. “Yes?”Joy beckoned, “You might want to come here.” Mrs. Cherveaux followed Joy; as they headed back down the hall you could hear them fighting. Mrs. Cherveaux sighed and hurried past Joy and into Emilie’s room,“Emilie? Boys? What are you doing?”Aden, sensing it a “good” time to get Emilie back turned to his mother and said, “Oh Mom, you should have seen their faces it was priceless!”Emilie snapped. “Shut up!”Mrs. Cherveaux looked pained, “Emilie Clare Cherveaux! You will not speak like that to your brothers, do you understand me?”Emilie sighed; the tears rolled down her face silently, ‘Yes Mommy.”Mrs. Cherveaux looked at the twins, “Go to bed now!” They hurried out of the room. Mrs. Cherveaux put her hand on Emilie’s shoulder, “Get some sleep girls.” She left the room.Katherine took Emilie’s hand. “C’mon Emilie, let’s go to bed.” She led her to her bed and Emilie climbed into it and laid down; Katherine and Joy walked over their sleeping bags, laid down and went to sleep.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Chapter 1 ~ ’Can We Go?’Emilie Cherveaux, Joy Hailey, and Katherine Lark stood before Emilie’s mom one sunny California day in the Cherveaux kitchen.“Mommy, please can we go on a camping trip?”Mrs. Cherveaux had always found it hard to refuse her only daughter, also because she was the youngest of eight; all were boys except for her. “Will someone be going with you?” Mrs. Cherveaux asked.Joy looked at Katherine and Emilie and answered slowly, “Not at the moment, Mrs. Cherveaux.” “We hadn’t thought that far ahead yet,” Katherine put in honestly.Emilie thought for a moment, then her face lit up happily. “What if we ask Matthew to come with us?” she asked her mother excitedly. Matthew was Emilie’s favourite brother who was nineteen. Katherine quickly added, “And Adrienne Lesching.” Emilie looked pleadingly at her mother, “Would that be alright, Mommy? Please?” Mrs. Cherveaux thought for a while. Matthew and Adrienne were both very reliable and she could trust the two to take care of her little girl. A small smile played on her lips. “Yes, you may go on a camping trip as long as Adrienne and Matthew can go with, alright?”Emilie hugged her mother tightly. “Oh thank you ever so much, Mommy!”Joy and Katherine each gave Mrs. Cherveaux a hug in gratitude and said in unison, “Thank you, Mrs. Cherveaux!”The girls ran out of the house and hopped on their bikes and rode down the street. At Adrienne’s house Emilie almost fell off her bike in her excitement to tell Adrienne. She ran to the Lesching’s front door,“Adrienne!!” Emilie knocked on the door. She was literally doing a happy dance on the front steps. Adrienne opened the door to see three happy faces on the doorstep.“Hello girls”“Adrienne, we want to go on a camping trip, but Mrs. Cherveaux said someone older had to come with us and she said if you could, and it was alright with you parents, you and Matthew could be our chaperones. Can you do it?” Katherine burst out.Joy added, “Please would you?”All Emilie did was stare pleadingly at Adrienne who smiled at them.“For how long?” she asked.“A week” Katherine answered.Adrienne stood quietly for a moment before ducking inside for a couple minutes. When she reappeared she asked, “When do you want to leave?”Emilie looked at Joy and Katherine who nodded at her. “Tomorrow afternoon, about one o’clock.”Adrienne grinned at them. “It’s settled! Go find your brother and ask him!” “But don’t you have ballet?” Joy paused. “Not this week, I have a break.”The girls ran to their bikes whooping with joy, Adrienne grinned after them and then she went inside.~*~ “Matthew! Matthew!” several voices called his name from outside the shop. He walked outside and found his sister and her friends sitting on their bikes. “Yeah?” “Mom said we could go on a week-long camping trip, but she said we needed chaperones and we asked her if you could be and she said yes.”“We’re gonna leave tomorrow afternoon,” continued Joy.“And Adrienne is coming with us too!” added Katherine.Matthew frowned “Girls, I’m sorry, but I have to work next week.” “What?” Emilie looked deflated. “Matthew, you can go, I was going to give you the week off anyways.”Matthew turned around, “Are you sure Gramps?”“Yes I’m sure, son. Now hand me that grease towel and run on home with the girls, and don’t to forget remind your mother that it’s dinner at your house tonight.” Their grandfather winked at Emilie. Matthew handed his grandfather the towel and hurried after the girls.Emilie waved at him, “Goodbye Gramps! Thanks for letting Matthew off!” He waved back at her.“So girls, what’s the plan?” “We’re gonna go shopping for food this afternoon, pack tomorrow morning, and leave at one o’clock” Emilie replied as she skipped along with her bike. “We’re gonna sleepover tonight too!”“We’re coming after dinner” added Joy happily,Matthew asked them, “How are you going to shop if you’re riding your bikes?” Katherine answered him, “Your mom’s taking us.” Emilie nodded in confirmation.Matthew walked over to Emilie, “I still can’t believe you’re old enough to go on camping trips.”Emilie laughed, “I am fourteen.”Matthew smiled, “You’ll always be little to me.”Joy and Katherine laughed at him.“What?” he cried, “What’s so funny?” At the Cherveaux’s house the girls dropped their bikes on the ground and ran after him. Matthew turned around and tried to tickle all three of them, but only succeed in getting Emilie. “Okay that’s enough, us girls have us some shopping to do or we will be late for dinner. Matthew, it’s a casserole so please put it in around five o’clock.” Mrs. Cherveaux walked over to the girls and gently pulled Emilie, Katherine, and Joy up from the ground. “At 350 degrees alright?” she looked at Matthew.He nodded his head and winked. “Yes Ma’am.” He turned and walked inside.“Matthew!” Mrs. Cherveaux continued. “Yeah Mom?” he stuck his head out the door,“Aden and Angelo will be home soon from work.”“Okey doke”“Alright girls off we go!”“Wahoo!” the girls raced to the car.